Occupyd provides bars and restaurants closed by the pandemic with the potential to rent kitchen space to takeaway and delivery businesses with no charges or commission
As of around 8am this morning, the NHS has stocks of two coronavirus vaccines, and as you read these words, people in high risk groups are receiving injections which will protect them from the worst effects of Covid-19. This rapidly expanding vaccination effort means that, come Spring, at least some of the restrictions currently battering hospitality should have been lifted, and there is reason to believe we may return to some semblance of normality by Easter.
However the remainder of winter is going to be tough, and with social distancing restrictions expected to intensify, it is unlikely that customers will be eating or drinking ‘in’ very much for the next couple of months. Takeaway and delivery business is booming however, and if your dine-in venue has been shuttered by Tier 4 restrictions, there is a very good chance someone would like to use its kitchen for takeaways or delivery while you are closed, providing you with some very low-effort income.
This is where Occupyd can help, by enabling catering businesses to find empty kitchens, and vice versa. The service was initially set up in 2019, to help bars and restaurants which only operated during the day to make some extra revenue by renting their kitchen out in the evenings. From the other side of the equations, chefs or caterers used the service to find pop-up or event kitchen space, it works a bit like airbnb for venue owners and chefs.
In a nutshell – if your kitchen is empty, you can use Occupyd to temporarily rent it out, making on average around £100 per day. Or, if you want to launch or expand a delivery or takeaway business, you will be able to find a local kitchen to work from on Occupyd.
How It Works
Space owners create a free account on the Occupyd website, which will then guide them through the process of making a ‘for rent’ listing, which is subsequently distributed to a database of thousands of potential renters, as well as being included in search results on the website. Bookings with space-seekers can then be made in two ways – direct, or via Occupyd’s optional in-house payment system. The benefit of the former being it is completely free, while Occupyd’s payment system takes a 5% commission for handling all the billing and money-chasing legwork.
This direct, commission-free option was added last month, with the express purpose of enabling as many venues as possible to use the service and make as much money as possible during the pandemic. The right choice for you will depend on your circumstances: if every penny counts at the moment, connect and book directly with interested renters for free. If a ‘fire and forget’ approach is preferable, make the booking through Occupyd’s system and pay the 5% commission.
The Occupyd service is set up to be simple and easy to use, with protections in place for both space owners and renters. For restaurants or bars with kitchens that have been closed by the pandemic, Occupyd could be a low-stress way of keeping some cash-flow ticking over, and we applaud then for adding the zero-cost option at a time when many venue owners are hanging on by a thread.
Occupyd founder Callum McPherson said: “A large number of organisations have been affected by the on-going pandemic, which has had a huge impact on their bottom-line. We’re driven to make life a little easier by facilitating relationships between businesses on the hunt for workspace, and those that have extra capacity, so they can help each other out and continue to grow.”
Visit the Occupyd website for full FAQs and to create a free account.